Turkish Delights

Liotard's fine portraits of Westerners in Turkish dress, Carpaccio's turbanned figures and the coveted 'Turkey' carpets that appear in paintings by Lotto and Holbein bear witness to a deep Western fascination with all things Ottoman. It is this cultural influence, spanning five hundred years - from [...]
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Liotard's fine portraits of Westerners in Turkish dress, Carpaccio's turbanned figures and the coveted 'Turkey' carpets that appear in paintings by Lotto and Holbein bear witness to a deep Western fascination with all things Ottoman. It is this cultural influence, spanning five hundred years - from the fall of Constantinople through to the twentieth century - that unites the wealth of paintings, drawing, photographs and decorative objects in this sumptuously illustrated book. The result is a visual feast of Turkish delights, from the exotic allure of the harem and Turkish baths to Ottoman-inspired Western interiors and pavilions; from paintings of Europeans in gorgeous Turkish costume to carpets, silks, tulips, turbans, Iznik tiles, coffee, tobacco, croissants...The delightfully informative text explains how Turkey, the gateway to the East, became a fountain of inspiration for so many artistic and cultural fields - painting, ceramics, textiles, interiors, fashion - in the West.Today the many fruits of this cultural meeting, enticingly displayed in this book, will engage a fresh audience with the decorative possibilities of the ravishing colours, motifs and furnishings of traditional Turkey.